A new 'working report' published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) states that the widening gap between China’s rich and poor makes it “one of the most unequal countries in the world.” Its authors Serhan Cevik and Carolina Correa-Caro write that the rich are gleaning most of the fruits of the transition from a system of centrally-planned socialism to a market-oriented economy. Although per-capita income has grown and the number of people living on less than a $1.25 a day has plummeted, income inequality has skyrocketed, the economists said. The top quintile of earners now pull in nearly half of total income while the poorest quintile of earners account for under 5%. The economists said: “China’s widening income inequality is largely a reflection of faster income growth among the rich, rather than stagnant living standards among the poor.”